Electrical cable connectors are used in a variety of applications, including for interconnecting computer components. As an example, electrical cable connectors include Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (Serial ATA or SATA) connectors, which are used, for example, to connect computer peripherals such as hard disk drives and optical drives. SATA connectors typically include socket connectors and plug connectors, which may be of the board mount connector type (e.g., for assembly to a printed circuit board) or of the cable connector type (e.g., for assembly to an electrical cable).
Although a latch for a SATA socket connector exists, when the SATA socket connector is of the board mount connector type (and the corresponding plug connector is of the cable connector type), in many applications, this latch cannot be reached, for example, to disengage the connectors. In this case, the connectors are typically engaged without locking or securing them together.
Although a SATA socket board mount connector may include a protrusion in a mating slot of the connector, and a corresponding SATA plug cable connector may include a recess that cooperates with this protrusion to provide some retention of the connectors in a mated configuration, this retention is typically not sufficient in a high vibration environment, such as, for example, in automotive applications.